- An ex-Giuliani staffer told Politico that Fani Willis will be a "superstar" if she convicts Trump.
- Trump and 18 co-defendants — including Giuliani — face charges of violating the state's RICO law.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over the past year has become the face of the investigation into alleged election interference connected to the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
And after a Fulton County grand jury on Monday indicted former President Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants over charges that the group conspired to overturn the presidential results in the state, Willis has reached an apex of prominence as she will lead the criminal prosecution against an ex-president of the United States.
With the co-defendants faced with charges of violating Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization law, former New York City mayor and former Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani — who is among those charged — now finds himself being prosecuted under the same RICO laws that he once employed in his legal fights against the Mafia as a US Attorney in New York in the 1980s.
"The indictment alleges that, rather than abide by Georgia's legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia's presidential election result," Willis said earlier this week during a briefing where she discussed the grand jury's decision.
Giuliani during an appearance on Newsmax earlier this week firmly rejected Willis' use of RICO statutes in the Georgia case.
"This is not meant for election disputes," he said. "This is ridiculous what she's doing."
But if Willis is successful in her prosecution, a former staffer from Giuliani's mayoralty who spoke anonymously told Politico that she would instantly become a name bandied about for higher office in Atlanta and Washington, DC.
"You have to admit, if she is successful and convicts Trump, you're going to be talking Gov. Willis, Vice President Willis — you are talking about someone who is going to be a superstar," the staffer said, while pointing to Giuliani's 1993 and 1997 mayoral victories that were centered on his judicial record and tough-on-crime persona.
"I have to tell you something — that is ironic to me," the staffer added.
Since November 2020, Trump has cast doubt on now-President Joe Biden's 2020 victory in Georgia, despite no evidence of voting irregularities and vote counts affirming the final results. After decades of GOP dominance on the presidential level, Georgia backed Biden by roughly 12,000 votes out of 5 million ballots cast.
Shortly after the 2020 election, Trump pushed Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn Biden's win, but both men refused the then-president's repeated entreaties.